1946

Heartbreaking. This is an animation movie about the American bombing of Japan and its aftermath. Not for children. Based on the autobiographical novel by Akiyuki Nosaka. ( )

Saddest animated film ever. ( )

This Japanese anime film tells the story of Seita, 14, and his four-year-old sister, Setsuko, whose father is at war and whose mother dies after the American air raid of Kobe, Japan, at the end of World War II. After the bombing of their home, the children go to their aunt’s house. When family becomes yet another enemy, Seita and Setsuko move to an abandoned bomb shelter and become increasing alone and isolated, struggling to stay alive. Based on the semiautobiographical novel by Akiyuki Nosaka, Grave of the Fireflies gives viewers a glimpse into the everyday details of daily life on the wartime home front. The images and dialog are stunning but sparse. It is a beautiful but heartbreaking story. Definitely not a cartoon, this movie, one of the most poignant and memorable war films I’ve ever seen, is best suited for older teens.

As the Empire of the Sun crumbles upon itself and a rain of firebombs falls upon Japan, the final death march of a nation is echoed in millions of smaller tragedies. This is the story of Seita and his younger sister Setsuko, two children born at the wrong time, in the wrong place, and now cast adrift in a world that lacks not the care to shelter them, but simply the resources. Forced to fend for themselves in the aftermath of fires that swept entire cities from the face of the earth, their doomed struggle is both a tribute to the human spirit and the stuff of nightmares. Beautiful, yet at times brutal and horrifying. Based on the retellings of survivor Nosaka Akiyuki and directed by Iaso Takahata (co-founder, with Hayao Miyazaki, of Japan's legendary Studio Ghibli,) Grave Of The Fireflies has been universally hailed as an artistic and emotional tour de force. Now digitally remastered and restored, it is one of the rare films that truly deserves to be called a masterpiece. - from Amazon.com